Communication of the Join Life collection (2022) in Zara Barcelona physical stores, labels and product on the web

Abstract

The communication that fashion brands make about sustainability is today more questioned

than ever. The new proposal for a Directive of the European Commission -Green Claims Directive-, will mark a before and after for many companies, as it aims to warn about various communication practices that confuse the consumer, including labels:;to show a sustainable label that is not based on a certification or is not established by public authorities, constitutes an unfair competition practice in all circumstances” (Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims, 2023).In this article we will analyze the sustainability communication carried out by Inditex -specifically, its Join Life collection, distinguished as the most sustainable-, both in its Sustainability Policy and Roadmap, and in the 9 physical stores of ZARA Barcelona (2022), precisely one year before Inditex removed the label from the market. We have used the Case study method, integrating: text analysis (Sustainability Policy and Reports); descriptive study of the physical stores, including a brief interview with the employees; analysis of labels content of the garments in the store; and finally, content analysis of the product information of these garments on the website. Although it is a certification recently suppressed by Inditex (March 2023), we believe that the conclusions obtained in this study can contribute to an improvement in the management of sustainability communication by fashion brands.